


Will you stay in Riften?

by Deadtrash (ecm)



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-29
Updated: 2013-11-29
Packaged: 2018-01-02 23:38:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecm/pseuds/Deadtrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short story following Mjoll the Lioness after she was rescued form Mzinchaleft by Aerin.<br/>UPDATE: I fixed the format, it is easier to read now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will you stay in Riften?

**Author's Note:**

> This the first time I have posted a fic in a very long time, so I'm still getting in the swing of things. Enjoy this fluffy Mjoll/Aerin fic.  
> 

She used all of her remaining strength to pull her limp body out of the ruin. As she opened the heavy solid metal door to the Dwarven ruin, a heavy and painful gust of cold air hit her face, stinging the deep wound on her cheek. Her leg was completely numb and out of its socket, bruised and scratched. Crawling through the snow she reached the edge of the path. Mjoll sat upright; she could hardly see her hand in front of her face because of the blizzard. She hesitated as she lifted the broken shoulder piece off her armor to see the wound. The leather stuck to her skin and was soaked in blood. Blood was sliding down her arm and dripping onto the snow. The Dwarven Centurion’s rotating blade hacked a deep gash into her arm, just missing an artery. Mjoll reached to her sheath to grab handle of Grimsever, but grasped onto air. The sword was still inside the ruin. Mjoll looked around her and shielded her eyes from the snow. She was alone in The Pale, wounded, and without her weapon.  
She dragged her body down the side of the road, only able to move a few inches at a time. Every time she moved her arm she let out a hushed scream of pain. A dark trail of blood followed her and led to her blood soaked arm. She sat in the snow for what felt like hours before her head hit the cold earth. The blood from the gash on her cheek began to seep onto the rocky snow. Certain she would die, Mjoll began to pray to Arkay. At least she would be in Sovngarde. She clutched her arm and patiently waited. Just as she started to see spots, she heard a cry and the sound of a sprinting horse. “By the Divines!” A man cried. Just as his horse stopped a few yards away from her body, she passed out.

\---

Aerin dreaded the long and dangerous road from Dawnstar to Riften. The journey took at least two days and he lacked the armor and agility to make it in one piece. Just standing at five foot six and, he somehow managed to pass off as a warrior back when he was working with the Riften guard, but he never thought he would actually have to fight or wield a heavy weapon. He kept his iron dagger at his side while he was travelling, and only rode on certain roads he knew bandits wouldn’t take hold of. He had just started his journey; he left Dawnstar earlier that morning and had hit a harsh blizzard, which slowed him down. “Just a few more hours, and then we can stop in Windhelm” he said to his horse through his thick winter clothing. He tended to travel in the cold; despite it being more dangerous, there were fewer rogue bandits.

  
He was riding down through the crooked dirt pathways in the thick snow, holding part of his cape against his mouth and nose trying to see past the thick, harsh and icy air. His horse was getting antsy with the weather. He had stopped twice already to calm his horse. As they rode through the deserted pathways, he started to regret taking the journey in this weather. Every minute noise he heard in the distance reminded him of a ferocious frost troll and every gust of wind like an ice wraith. The thin and slippery paths eventually turned into distressed cobblestone roadways and he continued to tread through the harsh Skyrim weather.

  
Aerin was passing an old Dwarven ruin when he saw something in the road. The snow was so thick that he couldn’t make out what it was. At first it looked like a wolf lying in the roadway, but the wolf was… bleeding. Aerin was not a squeamish person, he often had to address the wounds of the guards in Riften, and with the Thieves Guild taking a hold of the city and a civil war breaking out, he thought he had seen it all. As he got closer, he saw that the thing on the road was actually a person. “By the Divines!” he shouted as he spurred the horse on. He practically leaped off of his horse to the person. He kneeled down on the snow, ignoring the trail of blood that was seemingly endless. He placed a hand on her shoulder and brushed the snow off of her head. He lightly cupped his hands around her face, “Come on, wake up!” he said. He wiped the blood off of the wound on her face. She had tangled and wet yellow blonde hair and smudged green war paint on the left side of her face and a beautiful, strong completion. He looked around to see if anyone was nearby, or more importantly, if there were any inns or homes, but they were alone.

  
Aerin reached into his bag and pulled out some of his clothes. He used his teeth to rip an old shirt into strips. He used two fingers to carefully lift the heavy iron armor off of her shoulder to see the wound underneath. The leather stuck to her skin like glue, completely soaked in blood. He slowly peeled the leather away and wiped the excess blood off of her arm and tightly wrapped it in the fabric.

  
He then wrapped her in his cape to keep her warm; her lips were as blue as the ocean. He then picked her up off of the ground and struggled to get her onto his horse. Aerin placed her in front of him, using his left arm to hold her against his body and his right to hold onto the reins.  
That night Aerin made no stops. They rode past Windhelm, straight to Riften. When they reached the stables, Aerin got off of his horse, which collapsed in exhaustion, and carried Mjoll into the hold. It was the middle of the night and the streets were empty. Aerin rushed into his home and placed the woman the extra bed and continued to address her wounds

\---

Mjoll opened her eyes expecting to see the bright Skyrim sky but instead saw beautifully crafted wooden beams. Rays of light traveled through the thin gaps in the roofs shingles and left a pattern on the floor below.

  
Mjoll sat upright in the soft bed and examined her arm. The wound was carefully wrapped in soft linens and the bleeding had stopped. She felt the long scabs on her cheek, feeling lost without her war paint. She examined the room she was in. The rugs were imported and the bed had sheets on it, not something you saw everyday in the village she grew up in.  
“I’m glad to see you’re awake!” Aerin said while standing in the doorway, holding extra cloth and a shallow bowl of water.

  
Mjoll didn’t answer. She sat in silence, feeling the soft cloth of the tunic she was wearing.

  
“I didn’t expect you to be that talkative, anyway, my name is Aerin.” He added.

  
“How long was I asleep?” Mjoll asked

  
“Oh, about four days. You had some pretty bad wounds on your arm and face, but I patched that up. What on earth did you do to get those?”

  
She glanced down at ther arm; a vivid memory of the centurions rotating blade slicing her flesh sent chills down her spine. “I’d... I’d rather not talk about that right now.” Mjoll’s thick Nordic accent clashed against Aerins light and clear Cyrodiilic dialect.

  
“Well, do you mind if I check the wound on your arm?” Aerins soft and charismatic voice was a breath of fresh air

  
“I don’t mind.”

  
Aerin began to unwrap the linen on her arm, he continued to talk to her, but she was in no mood to listen. Mjoll continued to look around the room. Her iron armor was neatly stacked on top the dresser pushed against the wall. Grimsever, her sword, was still deep in the treacherous Dwarven ruin. By now it probably has been smashed by a Centurion or stolen by a bandit. Mjoll considered herself a true Nord, and what’s a Nord without her weapon?

  
“..from?” She heard Aerin say

  
“What?”

  
“I asked, ‘Where are you from?’”

  
“Oh.” Mjoll sat in silence for a minute “By ‘From’ what do you mean?”

  
“Well, what hold are you from? Oh, are you form a village? I found you in The Pale so I assumed you are from Dawnstar? Or you could have just been in that area.” She could sense a hint of nervousness in his voice.

  
“Wait… are you a, Bandit?” He hesitated

  
“No, I am no Bandit. I am a vigilante. I have been travelling across Tamriel my entire life. I am not from any city, I am from Skyrim.”

  
“Well, alright then.” Aerin continued to clean the wound on her arm.

  
“Where are we now?” Mjoll asked

  
“Why, we are in Riften. Home of the Black-Briar Meadery, renowned fisheries, the Thieves Guild, and the Black Briars.”

  
“The Thieves Guild?”

  
“You’ve never heard of the Guild before? Nasty folk. They spend the day cooped up in the old sewers and the night prowling around the city doing what thieves do. No matter what the guards do, the Guild always seems to have a strong presence in Riften.”

  
“Sounds awful.” Mjoll remembered her past, how her home village was burned to the ground by thieves and bandits. She had made a vow for her father to become the best warrior in all of Tamriel and to destroy all bandits and thieves.

  
“You know, some of us here in Riften have been looking for someone who has the guts to take down the Guild, if you feel like you have what it takes, would you consider giving it a try?” Aerins eyes were full of hope. “I’m sure that if you could make it out alive from a fight with a Dwarven Centurion (he recognized the blade marks from images in books) you can take on a few thieves.”

  
“Woah, calm down there. I just woke up ten minutes ago and you want me take down a guild I just heard about? Give me some time.”

  
“Sorry, I’m just a little nervous. With the civil war breaking out and all, everything just has gotten worse.”

  
Mjoll leaned back against the headboard. Aerin sat next to her and occasionally their eyes met in silence.

  
“Oh, I forgot to ask. What’s your name?” Aerin asked

  
“Mjoll. Mjoll the Lioness.”

\---

Mjoll had been in Riften for close to a month now. She had stayed with Aerin, who practically begged that she stay with him instead of renting a room at the Bee and Barb or taking a bed at the Bunkhouse. Mjoll had seen several incidents involving the Thieves Guild. The mere mention of the Guilds name sent anger and annoyance through her body.  
Aerin loved having Mjoll as a friend. They were often seen walking together in Plankside, talking and arguing. Aerin had taught Mjoll everything she needed to know about the city and the Thieves Guild and Mjoll had even taught Aerin how to wield a weapon that was larger than his hand. Mjoll and Aerin frequently went to the Bee and Barb, spending late nights drinking till they couldn’t stand and then helped each other walk the twenty feet from the entrance of the inn to Aerins house without falling. Aerin had never been happier in his life, and he had Mjoll to thank for this.

  
Having her as a friend was enough for him, but he wanted more. He admired Mjoll in every way. She had everything he wanted: the courage, the strength, the perseverance, and even the height (to be half an inch taller was all he asked for). When he was around Mjoll, he felt a warm feeling in his gut that made him struggle to form sentences and walk without tripping over his feet. Her smile made him smile, and her laugh was like drinking the sweetest mead. Despite living in the same house, he never spied on her while she was changing, and he respected her privacy, but as he developed more feelings for her he found it difficult to even walk past her room.

  
Even his friends knew that he had feelings for Mjoll. Sometimes when he would relax in the inn Jei would nudge him with his elbow and ask if he had “made a move yet” or if “they had done it yet”. Aerin usually replied with urging him to be quiet.

  
“Look, don’t try to hide your feelings for her. She could feel the same way too. When I proposed to Keerava I thought she would reject me on the spot, but now we are to be married and I have never been happier” Talen-Jei said in his raspy voice.

  
“But you two have known eachother for years! How does that help me?” Aerin spat back

  
“What difference does it make? I have never seen a better pair than you and Mjoll.” Aerin considered Jei a good friend and took his word.

  
\---

That night, Mjoll and Aerin were sitting in his home. Aerin sat near her thinking about what to say, “You can’t say I love you yet, don’t mess up” he repeated to himself in his head.  
Mjoll was cleaning the blade of her battleaxe with an old piece of cloth. She had her feet propped up on a table.

  
“What if I just, went down into the Ratway right now and slaughterd every last one of those nasty thieves?” Mjoll interjected

  
“No! I mean- you can’t do that now! If you do you will end up in Riften Jail, or worse.”

  
“You know I’m only kidding Aerin” She rolled her r’s so beautifully Aerin was almost transfixed

  
“I know, I just… I just don’t want you to leave. You’re the only good thing that’s happened to this city in a long time.”

  
Mjoll raised an eyebrow at that comment. She never could take compliments, so she usually reacted to them with sarcasm.

  
“Getting rid of the Guild is the reason I am here right now. I have spent a month lollygagging and fooling around, I need to put this battleaxe to good use Aerin.” Aerin gulped, if the Thieves Guild was the reason why she was here, will she leave Riften if the Guild is eliminated?

There was a long pause. 

“Hey Mjoll, if you destroy the Guild, what do you think you will do next?” He asked out of curiosity

  
“Well, assuming that that happens, I’d probably continue exploring Tamriel. Whats a vigilante without a little exploration?”

  
“Do you think you would consider staying here? In Riften?” Aerin looked up at her scarred face “With me?”

  
Mjoll placed her battleaxe on the floor. “Aerin… I don’t think I could settle down, I need to explore.”

  
Mjoll leaned back in her chair, “I’m sorry Aerin, but I will leave Riften.”

  
“But you can’t! Even if the Guild is destroyed, you need to stay to help us. We have no warriors in the city and a guard force as useful as babies!”

  
“Listen Aerin, I have to leave. I would love to stay in Riften, but I made a promise to my father years ago. I have to go and find Grimsever, and I have to continue exploring. If I don’t, then w-“

  
Before she could finish, Aerin leaned in and kissed her. He lightly cupped his hands around her face, being careful as not to touch the scar on her cheek. Mjoll closed her eyes and slowly raised her hands up to his waist. She tucked some of his long hair behind his ear. Aerin leaned away and blushed,

  
“I- I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry Mjoll, I”

  
Mjoll placed her hand on his hand and lightly kissed him back on the cheek,

  
“It’s ok. Maybe I will think about staying in Riften a little longer.”

\---


End file.
